Reliving the days of retro gaming from the 80's, 90's and 00's along with the discussion of modern day titles.

What if the Legend of Zelda remained a 2D side-scroller?

When it comes down to the second Legend of Zelda title in the series some people look at it as the black sheep of the original trilogy. It was the first game to 2D side scrolling action in the entire Legend of Zelda series. While the side scrolling concept for The Adventure of Link was interesting the overworld map feature during travel it was something seemed innovative at the time. In fact the overworld travel looked similar to that of the Pokemon games that would eventually be used during the 90’s. When it came to actually gameplay the 2D side scrolling parts of the game had felt restrictive in comparison to the original Zelda title and Link to the Past. Thankfully, Nintendo had decided to ditch the 2D side scrolling gameplay for the Zelda series.

If Nintendo had made Zelda: Link to the Past a 2D side scrolling action adventure game mixed with overworld map travel the game probably would not have obtained the level success that it did during the early 90’s. In fact, if a majority of the Legend of Zelda games were similar to the second game as a 2D side scrolling title the series could have been easily forgotten overtime. The Legend of Zelda series was not cut out to be a 2D side scroller despite the Adventure of Link being received positively by fans and critics. Also, with games like Link’s Awakening and Link to the Past reverting back to the overhead gameplay opposed to 2D side scrolling action was probably the best choice that Nintendo has made.